Food Ministry plans hygienic and clean street food zones

Union Food and Public Distribution Ministry has come up with a plan to make street food areas hygienic, clean and equipped with basic facilities, it was announced on Friday.

The Govt has decided to reserve certain space in market areas for food vendors, where people could eat in clean and hygienic atmosphere and get clean water to drink

“At present, we can see vendor streets are dusty, dirty and unhygienic. So we have decided to reserve certain space in market areas for food vendors, where people could eat in clean and hygienic atmosphere and get clean water to drink,” Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said.

“This plan will be implemented definitely wherever the Central Government is present. For other states we will need to coordinate with the state governments to implement it in their areas. We are going to write to them,” Paswan added.

Paswan, who also holds portfolio of Consumer Affairs, said that two schemes — Clean Consumer Flora and Clean Market — were launched as permanent mechanism under the cleanliness campaign.

Under the Clean Consumer Flora scheme, financial assistance of Rs 25,000 will be given to 600-odd consumer courts at district level. On the other hand, NGOs working for consumer affairs-related issues will be given Rs 15,000 to carry out cleanliness drives in market areas under the Clean Market scheme.